England vs India 2014: 5th Test, Day 3 - Heroes and Flops of the day

Not surprisingly, India’s abysmal performance against the English continued at The Oval on the third and subsequently the final day of play in the last Test match of the five match series.

The English had a lot of heroes that saved the ship when it was needed. Providing a stark contrast was the Indian team, which threw up countless flops with little flickers of heroics in a few sessions.

Here is a list of the significant players who made day 3 a compelling and subsequently the final day of the Test match:

HEROES

Joe Root

Joe Root

Don’t get fooled by his boyish and unsuspecting demeanour. This lad is all about grit and determination and that is exactly what his glorious innings at The Oval was all about. After finishing Day 2 on the brink of a century with Jordan on the non-striker’s end, his century on Day 3 was imminent. Expectedly, he reached his century in no time.

Despite losing his partners at regular intervals, Root stood his ground and never took a loose ball for granted making sure each one of those crossed the boundary. He utilized India’s absence of a third man to the fullest and milked a lot of runs, cutting and lofting the ball through that area.

His adaptability to situations and his innovative and crafty batting style makes him a player that England can count on. He finished unbeaten on 149. The Yorkshire lad proved to be the highest scorer for England, and embarrassingly for India, managed to score more than their entire team. Root was thus, also rightly adjudged the Man Of The Match.

Stuart Broad

Stuart Broad

Despite being bombarded with short pitched deliveries by the Indian pacers, Stuart Broad gave a tough fight. Throughout his short but pacy stint at the crease, he toiled hard and battled every delivery with a brave face before being given out on a controversial decision by the umpire.

When he came out to bowl, he made sure that he avenged the unfavourable bowling of the Indians in his own impeccable style. While he bowled perfect lines and lengths with pace, Indians were found fanning the air with their bats, trying to search for the ball and determine their off-stump, in vain.

His hard work paid off as Rahane finally nicked one to Gary Balance in one of the best catches taken in the entire series. Thus, Broad’s all round contributions find him worthy of being called a hero for England on the day.

Chris Jordan

Chris Jordan

Though Chris Jordan’s time at the crease ended swiftly as he fell to Ishant sharma’s swinging delivery in the early part of the first session, the 25-year-old pacer did make sure that his bowling would do the talking.

Courtesy Indian batsmen’s flimsy resistance, Jordan didn’t find it hard to run through India’s tail, claiming the wickets of Ishant Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ravichandran Ashwin along with the important scalp of Virat Kohli.

His flawless lines and lengths forced the Indian batsmen to edge and poke the deliveries, as most of his wickets were through catches in the efficient slip cordon of the English.

Chris Jordan’s resistance alongside the gritty Root and his valuable 4-wicket-haul was highly influential in helping England claim the series over India today.

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FLOPS

The Indian Pace Battery

England played with a T20-ish pace against an indisciplined Indian bowling attack

Throughout the Test match, the commentators as well as the public were left wondering the reason as to why there was a glaring difference in the movement and swing of the English as compared to the Indian pacers. The answer lies in the simple word - Discipline.

Discipline is what all the Indian bowlers lacked throughout the Test match and Day 3 was no exception to this trend. From unnecessary variations to poorly directed short pitched deliveries, there was no stone left unturned by the Indian pacers to make the match more dismal for themselves.

Ishant’s problems with overstepping continued as a Joe Root was called back after getting bowled on a no-ball. Aaron bowled ill directed deliveries with faulty lines and lengths which were easily cut and hooked by Root and Broad while Kumar failed to make an impact throughout the Test match.

Thus, though they were poorly supported by the slip cordon, the Indian pace battery weren’t short of mistakes and lacked discipline that the English bowlers displayed throughout the match and on Day 3.

Gautam Gambhir

Gambhir looked tentative and was eventually run out after a poor call

Gautam Gambhir was brought back into the Indian team with a lot of hope and expectation. Unfortunately, he has failed to prove to his detractors his worthiness.

He got out on a duck on the first innoings and ran himself out making a measly score of 3 runs.

His tentativeness had earned him the ire of many greats including Geoffrey Boycott who didn’t mince words while describing Gambhir’s performance throughout the series and called it “rubbish”.

A person with the amount of talent that he has, it leaves a lot to be desired. With a disappointing comeback, his place in the Test team would again come into question.

Virat Kohli

Virat Kohli

A few months ago, who could’ve imagined that Virat Kohli cpuld be placed among the non-performers in the team. Such is the game of cricket that the best of the lot can sometimes be the most disappointing.

Kohli’s struggles with his technique have been evident throughout the series and the English bowlers didn’t waste any time, exploiting his weakness around the off-stump area. Though he did try and change his stance and technique in the second innings, but his resistance was short lived as he was dismissed by Chris Jordan.

His technique suffered throughout the series as it is very rightly said that cricket is as much a game of mental preparation as it is of technique. Technique comes with a solid and clear mind. When the mind is clouded by uncertainty and doubt, all that one can see is tentativeness which was beautifully spotted and exploited by the English bowlers.

Thus, when a key player like Kohli fails to perform match after match, the result shall always be reflected in the series scoreline. In the scoreline, 3-1, the poor performances by vital players like Kohli had a major contribution.